Lilan Try the most delicious Kurdish sweets and desserts in this small family bakery and sweet shop

Giwan Mustafa came to Bulgaria in 2006 as a political refugee.

What he likes the most about Bulgaria is the climate. “And women but I’ve been married for 4 months now,” Giwan smiled and winked at his wife – the beautiful Kurdish lady, sitting on the cash register at the sweet shop.

He has no favourite Bulgarian dishes. Doesn’t eat Bulgarian cuisine too often, because they mostly prepare Kurdish dishes at home.

What he misses the most from his homeland is the family. Since he came to Bulgaria he hasn’t gone back home to see them. “Now that I have the refugee status I can go there, but it’s dangerous, you know, there’s a war going on.”

His favorite childhood dish is burana (buranne) – vegetable soup with eggplant and yogurt.

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The sweet shop was opened in early 2013. Previously Giwan had worked for other people as a confectioner, but now he has finally managed to realise his dream of owning a sweet shop.

The young daughter of a friend of Giwan’s thought up the name. “Lilan” sounded very sweet to him and perfectly suitable for his future sweet shop.

Desserts, worth visiting the place for are hareesa – similar to basbousa, but a different recipe and baklava “Lilan”.

Only the baklava is adjusted to Bulgarian taste because Kurds like it drier, while Bulgarians are used to have it “drenched in syrup.” Otherwise, most desserts are prepared after original Kurdish recipes.

The most frequent visitors are Bulgarians. Arabs and Kurds also visit the place. Most people still don’t know about the bakery’s existence, since it has opened recently.

Interview and photos: An Fam
Translation from Bulgarian: Boyan Boychev
Illustration: Rositsa Raleva for Compote Collective
November 30, 2013